American to marry Spain citizen at embassy -advice?

[jwroman]

I have U.S. citizenship and my girlfriend is citizen of Spain and works at the Embassy. She is a on a diplomatic work visa with a Social Security number. Does anyone know what visa we need to apply for for engagement/marriage and if she would have to return to Spain to convert her current visa into either the engagement visa or the marriage visa?

[barbarajlw]

I have U.S. citizenship and my girlfriend is citizen of Spain and works at the Embassy. She is a on a diplomatic work visa with a Social Security number. Does anyone know what visa we need to apply for for engagement/marriage and if she would have to return to Spain to convert her current visa into either the engagement visa or the marriage visa?

If you are USC and live here in USA and I take it you mean she works at Spanish embassy here in USA? Yes? You can marry her now and apply for CR1 spousal visa and yes she would have to return to Spain for her interview to come back here and on that she gets green card right away and can work on arrival as well. Or if and I am sure someone will correct me on this you can marry now and apply for AOS permanent residency if she is going to be here for some time as AOS takes around 4-6 months. Did you meet her here or did you know her before he work visa? If you go the 129f fiance visa then yes you can apply for that now but also she has to return to Spain and wait for approval and then have interview for K1 visa to return and you marry within 90 days of her arrival, then you apply for AOS

[jwroman]

thanks and follow up

Thanks so much for the helpful reply!

Yes, I am a US Citizen and she has been working at the Spanish Embassy. We met here, after she worked there for almost 10 years. She has an A2 diplomatic visa. I understood that because it is an A2, she didn't have to return to Spain, unlike others on regular work visas. But perhaps this has changed or my information was wrong?

A couple of follow up questions:

Does it matter where we get married?
If we marry here, how long does the process take for her to return to Spain, do the interview, and return here with the Green Card?
If we marry here and apply for permanent residency, does she have to keep her A2 visa status in the meantime, or is there a new status that she can have, unconnected to her work, that would allow her to remain here until during the process?

Thanks again!

John